Flash, Bang, Boom

It's been way too long since I've been able to take a real vacation; especially with some of my family. Ace works long hours, but only the last half of each week. I try to work when Princess is in school. On top of all of that, the SKs are here, during the school year, on a very regular basis. Summer changes things a bit. Not only have we had the Princess full-time for over a year and a half, but every summer, we get my SKs a grand total of about 8 weeks (not all at once, but still...).

Life, and vacations, would be a heck of a lot easier if all the children were either here, or not here, at the same time. Alas, that is not possible; less so now than it used to be. After "the incident" that lost her bio-dad his parenting time (October, 2007 is when it happened; November, 2007 is when his time was removed), we haven't spent much time away from Princess. For the most part, she is still apprehensive to be anywhere unless one of us is with her, or she's absolutely sure her father won't be. I'm not complaining, mind you; just stating a fact. Counseling helped her figure out it wasn't her, nor my, fault and that there was nothing she, nor I, could have done differently.

Back to my point... Having her around practically all the time is pretty cool, most of the time. She's a great kid; very helpful, mature, playful, silly, and so obviously secure in her love for Ace & I ("my parents" she says). But sometimes, we need a break.

Since the older kids expressed no interest in going to the beach house, we planned this past weekend's trip knowing they would be with their mother, and it was a holiday weekend (thank goodness we have a beach house) -- blondie dog isn't fond of the bangs & booms. And, since Ace had to work on Saturday (his holidays "float" so this didn't count as one), Princess & I took the dogs down on Saturday, just after lunch, by ourselves, stopping only at a little stand to buy elk jerky.

The drive was pretty uneventful until we were about 25 miles outside of L.C. At this point, traffic came to a complete stop, and stayed that way for almost an hour. During this time, a lot of people actually got out of their cars to walk around. I decided it would be fine (since I wasn't going anywhere) to text Ace. If he was at his desk, he could check TripCheck for me to see what the holdup was. I guess he didn't find anything, 'cuz all he said was, "That sucks." Then, a little later, "A little cooler over there I hope. Surprised you have service there." To which, I replied, "Currently 82`, and me, too." It was soon after that that the police let us all through (slowly, but we all made it safe).

About an hour and a half later, I get another text, "You moving yet?" I chuckled, and said, "Been at the house for over an hour now. Got a few groceries, too." To which, he replied, "Oh, good. Looked at TripCheck and it said 2 hour delay outside of..." (where we were). That means we missed the worst of it. However, I did tell him later to be VERY CAREFUL when he rode (his motorcycle) over the following morning, because a motorcycle was part of that accident.

Princess & I fed the dogs, then had dinner ourselves. Around 8pm, we lit some of our sparklers (got some GREAT photos) and took a few videos, and took the dogs for another walk. At 9pm, they were locked in the garage, and we headed down to the beach access (open only for residents & their guests). Cool side note: there is now a full set of stairs going from the grassy area up top to the beach itself! This is new since the last time Ace & I were there -- Thanksgiving of last year. Anyway, we made our way down to near the water and laid out our blanket, then just watched other people setting off their fireworks. Usually, you can see the one fireworks display that is shot off about 2 miles north of where we were, but it was SOOOOO foggy, you couldn't see anything past the houses on the north side of the beach access! After about an hour, we were both tired, so we headed "home." That first night, she insisted on sleeping with me (I have to admit; I love sleeping with her!).

Sunday morning, Princess & I got up and had our breakfast, then took the dogs for a walk before heading into town. I haven't walked the north side of town in quite sometime (you know, where all the "antiques" & collectibles shops are?), and Princess was game, so off we went. We walked around for about an hour & a half, then decided to stop in a great little dive shop that advertises ice cream, but also serves crab cakes, chicken strips, hot dogs, etc. I have to be honest; their crab cakes were the third best I've ever had (first being Newport Grill and second being a little restaurant Ace & I used to go to before it shut down). We also stopped at the outlet mall and picked up a few things both for the Princess, and for the new baby coming in September, then we headed back to the house.

I stopped at the gift shops about 2 miles north of the house, and got a text from Ace telling me he was already at the house; wondering where I was and if I was going to be back soon. The rest of the afternoon/evening was spent literally hanging out. There were a lot of games played (mostly by me and the Princess), and a couple movies watched. We all read quite a bit, too. After another walk with the dogs, it was time for bed for the Princess; this time, in her own bed.

Monday was our most eventful day. After our usual morning routine (coffee for Ace & I, real breakfast for the Princess, and a walk with the dogs), we took off south. We started out by picking up fudge at our FAVE fudge place, then walked around that little town (which also does whale-watching tours, if you're interested), but weren't quite ready for lunch. By the time we got to the next town, we were starving, so stopped at one of Ace's faves, where we had fantastic clam chowder (the best I've ever had, and that's saying a LOT -- I apologize to "Mo's"; it's not yours!), then wandered around THAT town for a while. Down the road from the restaurant, we found a cool woodcarving shop and Princess got to play on a real wooden rocking horse!

Then, we headed to the aquarium. I haven't been there for YEARS, so it was neat to see, and to play with some of the "hands-on" displays. By the time we were done there, it was mid-afternoon, so we headed back "home". About an hour later, we headed out to get dinner. We ended up just driving until we decided on something, which ended up being a place we'd driven past a hundred times, but never stopped at. This one came highly recommended by a few of our friends, so we did that. The food was very reasonably-priced, and tasted pretty good (not as good as where we went for lunch, but almost), too. More chillin', then bedtime when we returned...

Tuesday, Ace slept in a bit longer than we did, so we just read and played a game until he was up. We all started cleaning up, then I sent Ace home. Princess & I finished cleaning up, packed up the SUV, took the dogs for a final walk, and headed home.

Of course, what trip to the coast wouldn't be complete without a stop to my favorite chocolate store and the smoke shop (meat, people; not the other stuff)? The fake surfing wave was moved to a surf shop next to the smoke shop, too, so we stopped there for some cool photos, as well, then we were finally homeward bound.

All in all, a good, though not as relaxing as when we go without kids, weekend.

Missing Her...

I have to admit it. I desperately miss my Princess. Since her bio-dad lost his parenting time over a year and a half ago, she hasn't really been gone much. Sure, she's had her overnights with friends & "Mimi", she's had a couple week-long camps, and she's even taken one other overseas trip (that one was to Amsterdam), but this is different. She's in Costa Rica, and this is an 11 full-days trip.

The local overnights are nothing; just a chance for her to have fun with people without Mom around. The camps & other overseas trip were short enough that I just focused on having some adult time with my friends & husband, or working a bit more than usual. This time around, though, she's been gone for 10 full days, half of which I've had off of work.

To make matters worse, the older two took this first set of Summer parenting time to act up more than usual, causing Ace to threaten to cancel their biggest activities - which is WAY outside the norm for him. Almost every day has also been too hot to do much yard work or start another home improvement project. Yesterday, they were returned to Mama's (another round with them begins next week Friday), and we took advantage of having no kids around to put in our new door & hardware (photos are posted on MySpace & FB)!

Tomorrow, my Princess returns from her trip. Before I pick her & mom up from the airport, though, I am finally having dinner & chat with Kristine. For those of you who are local, yes, the same Kristine who used to be on KUFO as a radio host/producer. I've known her for almost two years (thanks, Jamie), but we've only had time & opportunity to get together IRL a couple of times (although, we chat via the 'net all the time). She's a kick in the pants, and we have SO MUCH in common...

I look forward to having Princess home again. Ace and I both missed our "little girl" very much, and look forward to whisking her & the dogs off to the coast this weekend for some good family fun. I will also post some of her photos from her trip when I get them; viewable either on my Flickr account or FB. One more day...!

Catching Up & Turning 35

Last week, Wednesday, was Princess' last day at school. Monday, they had their field day, Tuesday was "move up" day (where they met the teachers of the next grade and found out what they were going to be doing throughout next year), and Wednesday was a half day. I'm not sure what the exact requirement is for number of days the children must attend school, but I'm pretty sure most of them learned nothing in the final three days of school!

While I was waiting for her to come out of the building, I saw a ton of 6th graders pour out. They were singing. These are the kids that move on to the middle school next year, so they were high-fiving just about every teacher they came across. Once Princess came out, full backpack and a Father's Day gift for her Papa, the area had cleared a bit, but we had to go back inside to check the lost and found (just in case; we weren't actually missing anything) and get the Box Tops/Soup Labels container (Ace is the PTA's coordinator for those).

By the time we came back out, the only people left outside were three teachers, and they were waving to the busloads of kids. These teachers, though, happened to be all ones we knew (which isn't saying much; Princess, Ace, and I know almost every teacher & staff member at that school): her 2nd grade teacher (Mr. S.), and the two men who were co-presidents of the PTA (Mr. R. and Mr.
P.). We got our own high-fives and fist-bumps, and headed home.

Thursday, we had a playdate with our new mom's group. My friend (another from high school that I've recently reconnected with), A.A., started it so her school-aged kids could have friends their own age. I like it because it gives us scheduled things to do when we're home (which is only about 1/2 the summer, considering everyone's activities & trips we already have going on). Besides, a big chunk of the moms in this group are also ladies I went to h.s. with, so that part of it is nice, too!

Friday, I worked a bit. Mom was my last client, and afterwards, we went for Happy Hour at Newport Seafood Grill (nee: Newport Bay) on Portland's wonderful waterfront. Mom treated me to an early dinner, drinks, & dessert. She also got me a cool gift: flip flop shaped coat hooks for my room at work. It was raining off and on, so instead of my cute heeled flip-flops (to show off my awesome toenail polish), I wore my new biker-style boots. Dark, long jeans, a cute green top, and a black sweater topped off my outfit, but I couldn't find my umbrella in my car, so we shared hers.

Saturday, I had one client... at 8am. This has never been a time I take clients, but (a) I really adore this client, and (b) it was the only time he & I could both do it this week (he had to cancel his last one 'cuz he had nasal surgery). Oh, yeah, he also tips really well, and loves my kid. When I got home, I made the children do their chores, so Sunday was free for Father's Day.

Sunday, Ace and I slept in, but I got up a little earlier than he did, so Princess & I could make him his mocha. After we were both mocha'd up, the kids brought out their gifts. I got photos of all of this, but since he was in his robe, he won't let me post them :(. I gave myself a gel pedicure that early afternoon, then we decided to do a little "window-shopping" (not for actual windows; we have those already... for kitchen things. We're starting to think about remodeling), then went grocery shopping for dinner things.

Ace made boneless pork chops, garlic bread, etc for dinner (my choice). After dinner, we gathered to do presents for me. I did get photos of that part, which you can view on my MySpace & Facebook accounts. Today is officially my birthday, but Princess left this morning for Costa Rica, so we did dinner & gifts last night. After dinner, we took Princess to Krispy Kreme (my idea of a birthday cake), then took her to my mom's. They left early this morning, and will return late on July 2nd.

Maybe it seems weird, but even though I miss my daughter when she goes on these trips, I look forward to her leaving. I know that she'll write a few times and may call me once or twice. And, I know she's going to have a great time; an experience like no other that very few other children get to experience. What a wonderful thing for her.

To answer the unasked question, no, I don't feel older, but then again, I guess aging is a slow process. The goal is to do it with grace, and hopefully gain wisdom as you do it.

It's Over

Softball season, that is. Seems like it went by faster than in the past, although I only have one other year to compare it to. Perhaps it was due to the three cancelled games, perhaps it was due to the fact that we missed a couple games for personal reasons, or perhaps I just wanted it to be a little longer... Whatever it was, it's done.

We had a good season. The team won 4 of their games overall; about the same from last year. Princess made contact with the ball a few times, which is a definite improvement over last year. The ball also made contact with her... which left a few bruises, but nothing broken. During tournament games, that means a free walk to 1st base. She's decided to play again next year, so I bought her a full-inch-larger sized mitt, and am on the hunt for bigger batting gloves (the local sporting goods store has a HUGE discount on most of Spring sports' gear).

I've said before that softball is the beginning of Spring, to me. So, the end of the season means the end of the school year and the beginning of summer. Bring it on!

Not The Storm of the Century, but...

... definitely one for the record books! I don't know how much rain/wind/hail my area got, but I do know that tree branches were coming down all over the northwest part of the state, then it moved northeast (I'm assuming it hit T & D, too?).

Yesterday was my SD's 8th grade graduation/promotion ceremony. The Princess had MAD SCIENCE after school, and since it was the last one of the school year, I told her she could go, but I'd pick her up 15 minutes early. Her instructor, "Professor Genius", made her some slime to take home before she left. Then, we picked up Ace from work before driving what was supposed to be 1 1/2 or so hours up toward the mountain to A's school.

As we got closer to where we were going, the winds got worse. At one point, my SIL called to tell us they got halfway there and the winds were so bad, a tree branch flew between their car & the one in front of them (turns out that their area got the worst of it), so they were turning around and going home. We kept going. Then the rains hit.

Ok, a little sidebar here. For those who don't know me very well, I should probably tell you a few things: (1) Unless I am super-familiar with an area, I hate to drive. (2) My husband usually drives when we're together because he gets a bit carsick if he's not (plus, the whole I-hate-driving thing). (3) Storms are awesome, unless stuck in the middle of one.

Back to my story: There weren't many people on the road, anyway, but when the rain is POURING down and the wind is WHIPPING BRANCHES OFF TREES, it's usually time to pull over. I was in the left lane, going about 10 miles/hour so decided to pull off; yes, on the left side (median). I couldn't see to safely change lanes & pull off to the right shoulder, so I did the next best thing. Now, tell me, given the choices to keep going when you can't see anything through all the rain & wind, try to change lanes so that you can "legally" pull to the right shoulder, or pull to the left median with your flashers on, which would YOU do?

After a couple minutes of Ace ranting about us being late, but him not wanting to drive either, I told him he had two choices (well, three, if we turned around to go home): either drive the car, or shut up and let me do it my way. He really didn't want to drive (I still don't know why), so we waited it out a little, then continued on our way.

We got there, with time to spare, as I figured we would. Streets were soaked, and there were branches & leaves everywhere, but we were fine. We found our seats, and proceeded to watch Squeeks, and the other kids, become high school students. AAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!